


A Moment of Silence

by TheSullenPrincess



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Calamity Ganon - Freeform, Corruption, Dark, Gen, Mild Language, Nightmare, Possession, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 08:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21158702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSullenPrincess/pseuds/TheSullenPrincess
Summary: Was their fight really over... Or was the nightmare just beginning? (Postgame BoTW)





	A Moment of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo, or any of its characters.

As the last of the light slowly died out from behind the copse of trees, so it seemed that the world did too. And once she stopped feeling the warm fragmented sunspots dance upon her open cheeks and exposed skin, Zelda knew something just wasn't right.

With the light came darkness, and with that came the calls of the night. There was something about this night, however, that she couldn't help but be wary of. It was too silent, too _still_. She could strain her hearing all she wanted and couldn't even hear the croak of a frog or the buzzing of a single insect. Not even the leaves overhead rustled. It was like being caught in a windless void.

_Or being stuck inside the castle again_, she thought with dread.

"Princess Zelda."

Instantly she whirled around to come face to face with the person who called her. Her eyes were wide and her heartbeat raced as if she had just finished running. Upon identifying the person to be her knight, the princess allowed herself to relax and shoved him lightly. Or what she _thought_ was light. After a century of captivity, Zelda was still getting used to physically touching things without using too much force. A habit she developed pushing away Calamity's corruption.

Link on his part did his best to dig the heels of his boots into the earth—lest he fall and look incredibly weak in front of the woman who he saved not long ago. "Sorry."

"You nearly gave me a heart attack, Link," she accused.

The knight let his muscles loosen as he chuckled quietly. "I called you several times, Princess. You mustn't have heard me. Perhaps you are tired from our battle and need rest?"

"It's not that," Zelda muttered, arms crossed over her defensively. "It's just…" Green eyes wandered back into the darkness that blanketed the Kingdom of Hyrule. _Her_ kingdom. Moonlight barely dominated the skyline. There was just enough to illuminate distant jagged peaks and cast a faint, milky light over the Divine Beasts' silhouettes, which were dormant now that their work was done.

Vah Ruta stood motionless near Zora's Domain; Vah Rudania, beside the molten glow of Death Mountain; the outstretched wings of Vah Medoh she could see if she just turned her head; as well as Vah Naboris out far in the desert, if she strained her eyesight enough. Zelda's gaze was then drawn to the glowing pillars of otherworldly blue light, starkly bright against the backdrop of the night that marked the position of the many Sheikah Towers throughout the land.

It was breathtaking. It was desolate. And as Link followed her line of sight she had to wonder if he could also see what she saw. Judging from his smirk and teasing tone in his voice when he asked, "Afraid of the dark, Princess?" Zelda knew she had her answer.

The princess knew it was meant to be a joke. He was trying to get her to loosen up; break the state of mind she'd locked herself in. But when Zelda's shoulders tensed up, it was anything but funny. Especially when she uttered, "I've been in darkness for over one hundred years" forcefully and through tight lips.

An awkward silence fell around them and for a moment, she felt guilt. They had just succeeded in sealing away the Calamity not even a few hours ago—they should have been celebrating! With food and drink and cheer. Or at the very least, not walking about as though waiting for something else to rear its ugly head from the shadows.

Zelda sighed while she rubbed her sore eyes. "Just what lies beyond it," she said after a moment, finally answering Link's question. She even tried for a small smile to show she could joke too but it quickly fell away when a sound shattered the night, the first noise she'd heard since the sun had disappeared. It was that of a twig breaking.

Both sets of eyes briefly connect before roving over their surroundings for any possible threat. Zelda had guessed many of Calamity Ganon's monsters had perished since their master ceased to exist, as even the guardians no longer permeated a glow when they got close. But being safely hidden in the middle of Hyrule Field didn't mean trouble wasn't lurking, and Zelda suspected they were bound to run into some if they were not vigilant.

"Must be a fox," Link grunted when he couldn't see anything. He sounded too close. Like if he were to exhale, his front side would collide with her backside.

Speaking of exhaling...

The princess slowly released a breath, one she hadn't remember holding in the first place. Being around her knight was like being in the middle of a thunderstorm, she imagined: dangerous and disorienting. And while she was very happy to see him again after all the time that had passed between them his hovering over her was becoming more irritating than endearing. It was enough to loosen her train of thought.

As if to prove that theory correct, Zelda responded with a non-committed, "If you say so…" followed by a shoulder shrug, for a lack of anything better to say before letting her words die out.

The silence of the night fell back into place and the princess thought it was time to get back to camp. She only left to do her business and get a good view of the lands.  Link must have gotten impatient when she'd been gone for a while… Or worried, she thought with a mental _hmph_. The latter was most certainly it but Zelda almost wished it had been the former.

Decision made, the princess turned to make her way back to the temporary base within the protection of trees. In her scattered-brain state, though, she momentarily forgot the placement of her knight and walked right into his hard chest.

So she was right, after all. He _was_ too close. "Sorry," she murmured, trying to side-step him. Link was moving at the same time, trying to let her by but stepping in front of where she was going to go. Zelda was becoming impatient. She finally just stopped him with her hands on his shoulders, feeling him immediately still under her touch. Moving him—even a little—had been like trying to move a mountain. Something the princess was sure she could do with her newfound powers if she ever felt the need to, or if her mind wasn't elsewhere like at the moment.

"I think the dark is getting to you, Princess," Link said calmly. She said nothing. His brows dipped in the middle. "The dark sometimes plays with our minds. Paranoia is a common symptom after what you've been—"

"I am _not_ paranoid, Link." Zelda would have gladly added more when she heard something again and instantly stopped moving to better hear. This time she knew it was _not_ a fox.

_ From the trees... In the dark... What is... _

"….me, but we should probably start heading back."

Abandoning her course in favor of a new one, Zelda turned back around, her senses on high alert all over again. Only this time, instead of looking at Link, she ignored him to try and focus on whatever was making the noise.  She could hear it, crystal-clear, so why couldn't Link? The distinct sounds of the crunching leaves, breaking of twigs under heavy footfalls... Closer, coming closer. Like someone coming...for her...

The princess swore if she strained her eyesight further she could make out a figure with an inky shape. A person? A monster?

A hand fell on her shoulder and this time, Zelda didn't try to hold back the squeak she let out.

If Link was amused at his companion's outburst, it didn't show in his tone as he stated, "Let's go, Princess,"  as the hand guided her back to camp.

▲△▲

The trek back to camp was a quiet one. Zelda was usually the one to fill the void with her thoughts and ramblings however, she was as silent as the night around them. She wondered if Link realized she was keeping tabs on their surroundings in case something were to come out from behind the trees. This thought almost made her want to ask him why _he_ wasn't as alert but refrained. It wasn't often Link found the time to rest and relax when he was usually tense and on edge all the time, something the princess knew from their past. But it did strike her as odd, nonetheless.

Suddenly there was a tug on her wrist as Link's hand wrapped itself around it. The action caused Zelda to snap up and look in his direction. He'd never done that before and hadn't been expecting it.  Her eyes were wide and glassy as if she hadn't blinked since they'd started walking. Almost as if she were afraid to blink for fear she would miss the attack coming.

"The camp is almost in sight," Link informed her. He'd set it atop a hill while their horse was tied and grazing down below. Something about preferring higher ground. The marker on the Shiekah Slate had read _Whistling Hill _and it had been the nearest resting point on their way toward Kakariko Village that offered shelter from the rain for later in the night.

Zelda said nothing as she could clearly make out the light of a fire flickering in the distance some twenty feet or so away but slowly bobbed her head up and down as a way of response to show she had heard him. Her head stayed bowed as they continued walking, suddenly not feeling like herself...

Pretty soon they reached the campfire, and when Link released his grip on her to make a move to sit, the princess did not follow. In fact, she stood still over the crackling fire, her face cloaked in fiery light. The knight frowned, unsure what to do or say about her odd behavior—it was not his place—so instead came to a halt himself. He looked closely at the woman across from him and was about to ask her why she had stopped when he immediately got his answer.

A noise, like the ruffling of bushes, could be heard. The top of Zelda's blonde crown head of hair was still the only thing Link could see due to her bowed posture but it was clearly turned to her right towards the sound of the noise. Her hair fell straight and over one pale shoulder, shielding her face from his view like some sort of divider. It didn't matter if he wasn't able to see her eyes, he knew she was starring into the woods.

Link expected Zelda to gloat over her being right; there _was_ something out there that wasn't just a curious critter. But she didn't.  In fact, she just stood as still as a corpse in their coffin. This greatly concerned Link. Not long ago she had been trying her hardest to pinpoint where the sounds were coming from and now she was…different.

Deciding to throw propriety out the window Link walked over to the princess's still bowed figure,  hoping to tilt her head up by her chin and gaze into her true-green eyes. While it was true he was a master at concealing his emotions from people, Zelda never was, so he'd always been able to tell how she was feeling either by her actions, demeanor or her words. She reminded Link of those books she'd loved to read all the time, always open for anyone to glimpse into her true self.

If he could just move her head up, up, up—somehow the fact that he was now a whole head taller than her hadn't registered in his mind until now—Link would get all the answers he needed.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you. But now you can yell at me, like old times, right?" He joked again, lighting the atmosphere as his hand caressed her slightly cold cheek. Just a little further…

Her face looked different. Link didn't know if it were her eyes, their color, the color of her cheeks—or lack thereof—or something as impossible as her bone structure but she was…_different_.

There was that blasted word again! But there was just no other way to describe her!

And that smile! That was not a smile he'd ever seen on the princess. Granted, Link hadn't known her outside of a few hours and could only recall a small number of things from their past together but that smile belonged on the faces of the seriously wicked and condemned, like Calamity. Not on the face of his incredibly sweet and beautiful princess.

"Link..." Zelda's voice was no longer her own. It came out in a harsh, raspy whisper.

_ What was going on?! _

"Time to die you worthless Hero of Hyrule," she grinned maniacally, driving a blade straight into the heart of her knight while she laughed with pure delight.

Princess Zelda bolted up unexpectedly like a spring. Her throat felt raw as she screamed and gasped, scaring the shit out of Link and half of the once-quiet forest.

"Fuck." She heard Link swear before seeing him move closer to where she sat. Zelda clutched at the covers in her lap. "Princess, is everything all right?"

Still breathing hard from the nightmare, she turned wide eyes to her knight, noting his shaken appearance. "Princess Zelda...?" His voice held uncertainty.

The woman in question could only nod. Her throat hurt from all the screaming.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

She wanted to reply but just couldn't seem to form the words to do so. Her mouth was suddenly as dry as the Gerudo Desert she noticed, but was relieved to find out that she could no longer smell the scent of blood that had engulfed her senses right before her nightmare had ended.

It was later when Zelda was able to convince Link to go back to sleep that she stared at him from under her blanket. It was dark but thanks to the moon's glow she could make out the rise and fall of his chest.

Only when the steadiness of his breathing pattern told Zelda he was fast asleep again did she freely let her tears silently roll down her cheeks as she kicked away the blanket, as well as the small dagger that had somehow made its way into her hand in the middle of the night.

And as the night drew uncomfortably quiet like in her nightmare, Zelda couldn't help but fear for the future ahead.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a very peculiar dream and churned this out hastily so I’m sorry if it’s not very good! Normally I would have spent more time on it but wanted to get it out before the month was over!


End file.
